A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON MULTI-OBJECTIVE FUZZY PATTERN RECOGNITION MODEL AND THE DRASTIC MODEL FOR ASSESSING GROUND WATER VULNERABILITY

Ground water is an important natural resource throughout the world. The DRASTIC model has been used as a valuable tool in many parts of the world for assessing the vulnerability of groundwater. In the DRASTIC system, however, factors that influence groundwater must be divided into ranges and then be given ratings according to whether or not their values can be directly measured. The system may give the same range and rating to those having obviously different values. As a result, DRASTIC may be unable to actually reflect the difference between factors and hydrogeological settings. In fact, there exists a transition from the easiest to be polluted to the most difficult to be polluted so that the vulnerability of groundwater is of a fuzzy nature and therefore fuzzy set theory can be used to assess the vulnerability of groundwater. In this Paper, a Multi-Objective Fuzzy Pattern Recognition Model (MOFPR) is used for assessing the pollution potential of groundwater is presented. It is compared with the DRASTIC Model in a case study to evaluate the ground water vulnerabilities of the Cauvery Delta Region of Tamil Nadu in India. It is shown that the Fuzzy Pattern Recognition model can take the fuzziness into account more efficiently in the process of evaluating the vulnerability of groundwater